PGA Tour: Four More Years? Maybe not for Disney: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).It's been a six-year tradition of the PGA Tour to draw the curtain on the season's entertainment at the Disney courses, outside Orlando. But "Children's Miracle Network Hospitals" are at the end of their title sponsor contract, and the very real possibility exists that this will be the Tour's final visit to Disneyworld for a while. Jack Nicklaus won the first three Disney tournaments, but there's no-one of that illustrious calibre in this week's field - more of which later!

2).With the confirmation that the HSBC Champions will become a fully-fledged PGA Tour event next year, we now have six or seven (Disney would be the 7th) events with which to start the 2013/2014 season in autumn 2013. They are, in no particular order because we have yet to see the schedule:
The McGladrey
CIMB
HSBC
Las Vegas
Fry's.com
Mayakoba

3).And that is just six or seven years after the leading Tour players told Commissioner Finchem they wished to bring the Tour Championship forward to September, hence the FedEx Cup and the advent of the Fall Series. Now one of these events will be the opening tournament of a split-year season, 2013/2014.

4).None of the six tournaments mentioned above are currently due to earn Masters invitations for their winners, so how will that be? Win a WGC but be denied an Augusta tee-time?? Not likely, so we await a statement from Billy Payne who will doubtless be under pressure from the Tour, FedEx and other sponsors to resolve this thorny issue. Augusta don't want to increase the size of the field so there'll be snakes to go with the invitational ladder.

5).If ever the PGA Tour wished to make a statement to a sponsor that their largesse was no longer welcome they'd trot out a field like this week's line-up. As far as I can see, Robert Garrigus is the only standard bearer for the top 71 in the World Rankings with Jonas Blixt next at #72. As for the rest, who do they think they are? McIlroy and Woods?? Never mind, they'll be back in their droves for the Tiger guaranteed money tournament.

6).But there's plenty to play for, almost $5M. Let's deal with the Europeans first:
~Blixt needs to win at least $487K (solo second) to be sure of reaching the top 30 on the moneylist and a ticket to The Masters, though he could make it with a solo 3rd depending upon the results of Ben Curtis and De Jonge.
~Alex Cejka (182nd), Chopra (197th), Gary Christian (127th), Karlsson (161st) and Knox (156th) will be striving to reach the Top 125 on the moneylist to secure their "cards" for 2013. At the very least, Cejka, Karlsson and Knox will hope to reach the Top 150 for conditional 2013 status and a free pass to Q-School Final Stage.
~Brian Davis and Greg Owen are comfortably placed and hopefully can end their season with something of a bang after their respective whimpers of the past couple of months.
~And Stenson will just be happy to play his 15th and final event to secure his eligibility for 2013.

7).Others still to earn their exemption for 2013 include Camilo Villegas who sits precariously at 150th. Camilo continues to be a fan favourite and I doubt there's a finger not crossed in Tour HQ in the hope that he has four terrific rounds to ensure safety from the Q-School gallows.

8).One interested spectator from afar will be Nicolas Colsaerts - the $677K he's earned this year as a "Non-Member" would be just inside the Top 125 of the Tour's money list, $57K ahead of Billy Mayfair, currently in 125th position. If Colsaerts' earnings remain higher than the #125 man after Sunday, he'll be entitled to apply for Full Membership for 2013. Peter Hanson, Ishikawa and David Lynn would also be eligible to apply for Membership.

9).Next week sees PGA Tour Q-School Stage 2 and Champions Tour Final Qualifying. Among those seeking their senior fortunes are:
Marc Farry (France), Anders Forsbrand, Peter Fowler, Barry Lane, Santiago Luna, Miguel Angel Martin, Mark Mouland, Eduardo Romero and Andrew Sherborne.
Plus a collection of Tour journeymen and two more distinguished winners, Blaine McCallister and US Open winner Steve Jones (why he doesn't have some sort of exemption is beyond me).

10).I quite fancy recent winners Jonas Blixt and Two Gloves Gainey to continue their rich vein of form this week, but there'd be no more popular winner than the 2008 Champion Davis Love. At 98th on the moneylist he's almost assured of completing his 27th consecutive season in the Top 100 - a top 30 finish would ensure his 18th year million dollar year on the trot.
For those scoring at home, that all adds up to career earnings of $42M. A terrific career with more than his fair share of disappointments, none more than six weeks ago in Chicago, and you can be sure that, if Mickey Mouse pushes the boat out again next year, DLIII will be gracing the field as he usually does.

super, although a huge reservoir, I guess Lowry's stuff needs too much refinement to make it a profitable business anyway.

Ireland has had to pull out of Kyoto 2 because of Lowry's emissions.

He's been hired by the Irish cricket board to act as a sidescreen and also roll the wicket with his fat belly.

Can you imagine if Lowry actually read these boards? Only thing he ever reads though is a menu.

How old are you people? These are jokes most 10-year-olds would consider immature.

And yes, I am a fat Bar Steward.

Fat people have no sense of humour about being fat do they?

When it comes to Lowry, there aren't enough fat jokes.

You're right Smithers. We should leave Shane alone. He has enough on his plate already...

(thank you Jimmy Carr!)

Maarten Lafeber, who advanced to 2nd stage when Blayne Barber DQed himself, has withdrawn from the Stage II qualifier in Humble Tx.

GPB,
So has Derksen, same circumstances, same withdrawal.
Lafeber playing in South Africa, not sure about Derksen, perhaps he's injured as he doesn't seem to have played in the past few weeks.

I hear that Laura Davies won a limited field "LPGA Legends" event last week. Not entirely clear to me whether this counts as one of the two LPGA wins she needed to qualify for the Hall of Fame, but there is some commentary on the LET and LPGA websites that suggests it does bring her closer. Arguably a slightly sneaky back door route, but she still had to beat 40-odd others (albeit mostly veterans past their prime I presume) and I know that a lot of people say she deserves the honour regardless having notched up 80 or so tournament wins in her career, and that it's outrageous that LET events carry no weight for these purposes etc.

Sky,
Legends victories certainly DON'T count!

I think Dame Laura will get into the World Golf HOF in pretty short order when she finally retires from the LPGA Tour - remember, the LPGA HOF is not the same as the WGHOF, though I think that the WGHOF admits a player who has satisfied the LPGA criteria.